Are Angels more than just the West's best?
Posted: Friday, May 16, 2008 4:03 PM
Watching the Angels last night wearing throwback 1970s uniforms complete with the small “a” topped by a halo brought back memories of Rudy Meoli, Jerry Remy, Dave Chalk, Paul Hartzell and of course Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana. It also brought to mind a recent conversation with a general manager of another American League team.
Asked which team he thinks is the best in the AL, the GM responded, “When healthy, the Angels.”
Surprising, I believe, is that assessment. Immediate answers to that question would involve the Goliaths in Boston and New York, the growing threat in Detroit and the slow but very sound power built in Cleveland.
The Angels are good, we know that, but are they truly better than the aforementioned quartet?
Well, the only AL team with a better record starting play today is Tampa Bay and we know the world will careen off its axis if the Rays continue to win at their current pace.
The Angels have a World Series win and three division titles in the last six years. They also have an owner willing to invest to keep his team winning and a front office which proceeds in a largely sane manner (an exception to that to be pointed out later in this blog).
This year’s Angels score in an impressive fashion. They are third in the AL in runs and they’ve attained that ranking without Howie Kendrick for all but 10 games, Chone Figgins (currently on the DL), Maicer Izturis (on the DL for half the games played to date) and a human Vlad Guerrero, who has been good but not overly good so far.
Still the Angels score. And our friendly GM thinks their unique composition is a big reason. For when healthy and playing well the Angels are more of a National League team than any other club playing in AL with the DH derby. “When they put (Reggie) Willits and Figgins at the top of their order, they have two disruptive forces that most teams don’t have,” said the GM.
Of course, the catch here is that Willits, last year’s feelgood story as a minor leaguer who made good, spent from April 16 to May 1 in Triple-A -- a victim of the mega-contracts awarded to Gary Matthews and Torii Hunter. But what makes the Angels different is their athleticism and speed. They do not play for power, although they would like someone other than Mike Napoli to lead the team in homers.
And that’s what I find puzzling about the GM’s analysis -- the Angels were completely overmatched in last year’s ALDS by Boston’s pitching. Their lineup simply didn’t have enough sting to take on Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Jonathan Papelbon, etc. And no one looked more out of place than Willits.
Yet here stand the Angels, leading their division at the quarterpole, and doing it with hitting. Their pitching, especially the bullpen, has been poor. Unheralded starters Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana have saved the day. Closer Frankie Rodriguez, staring free agency in the face, has been awesome. But the setup crew has struggled and top starters John Lackey (back from the DL with a strong start Wednesday) and Kelvim Escobar have been MIA.
Is this a team built for the regular season? Does this team lack the real pop to worry frontline starters, especially if, as some believe, Guerrero has begun a slow decline from the peak of his talents? Did the Angels, as the GM suspects, err in overvaluing Matthews? Despite all that the Angels are the best in the West and they are hoping to show they can play with the best in baseball.
FIVE MORE SWINGS
1. THE WORST TRADE OF THE LAST DECADE…was the Mets’ inexplicable decision to trade Scott Kazmir in July 2004. An ill-conceived wish to contend for a wild-card berth brought ownership to the decision to move Kazmir for oft-injured Victor Zambrano. This deal was wrong on so many levels that it’s fodder for a full blog at another time. But it struck me as particularly fitting that last night Kazmir’s six shutout innings put the first-place Rays ahead of the last-place Yankees. Those are words I never imagined would be typed.
2. TO BE FAIR…the Mets made one of the best trades of the decade in January 2006 when they dumped Kris Benson on Baltimore for Jorge Julio and a minor-leaguer named John Maine. Maine has become a savior for the Mets starting staff. He was the subject of rave reviews in the spring and has held that form for most of his regular-season starts.
3. AND THE BEST TRADE NOT MADE…was the discussed Tim Lincecum-Alex Rios potential swap of last winter. Lance Berkman -- after flailing away at Lincecum yesterday -- was the latest to join the chorus (led by Matt Holliday of the Rockies) that raves about Lincecum’s stuff. No clue here why the Giants even considered the deal but they are winners for declining to pull the trigger.
4. BESIDES JOHN MAINE NOT MUCH ELSE IS WELL…at Shea Stadium where the Mets just dropped 3 of 4 to Washington. I don’t believe this Mets team was properly constructed and they have been saved to this point by unreal contributions from Ryan Church, Angel Pagan (now on the DL) and Maine. If they return to Earth, do the Mets have the stuff to outlast Philadelphia? And my view is no manager has a shorter leash than Willie Randolph as the Mets better have a good weekend series against the Yankees.
5. JUST LIKE JOHN SMOLTZ…Ryan Dempster has made a terrific return to starting pitching. After a mid-career stretch as a closer, Dempster swapped places with Kerry Wood, a lifetime starter whose fragility is better suited to life as a reliever.
Dempster has been terrific -- his 12-strikeout gem against San Diego yesterday leaves him with these numbers through nine starts: (4-1, 2.35 ERA, .172 OBA and 1.03 WHIP). These are numbers worthy of early All-Star consideration.
BONUS SWING
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN…the Royals being 6-0 against the Tigers, Florida being 8-1 against Washington, which just took 3 of 4 from the Mets, Pittsburgh winning 8 of 9 to move within a game of .500? Plus, San Diego and Colorado – teams which squared off in last year’s wild-card playoff game -- are 11.5 and 11 games respectively, behind Arizona, and Atlanta’s home-road split is (14-4/ 6-16). Go figure.
